Web Stories

Native American artists collaborate on installation

Posted April 11, 2005; 04:50 p.m.

by Ruth Stevens

Wilcox Hall in Princeton's Wilson College was filled with the sights
and sounds of graffiti, music, poetry and skateboarding on Friday,
April 8.

Artist Douglas Miles, the founder of Apache Skateboards, was joined by a group of young Native American artists and performers known as the Native Agent Arts Collective on an installation and performance piece, "POP LIFE 2."

The project included the painting of six canvasses, each 5 feet by 6 feet, that were connected for the performance, giving the impression of a 36-foot-long work of art. Also during the event, the performers read poems, played music and demonstrated skateboard art and technique.

The Native Agent Arts Collective is made up of poets, DJs, skaters and graffiti artists/painters from various North American tribes, such as the Osage, Apache, Pueblo, Kiowa, Navajo, Akimel O'Otham and Seminole.

Two members of the collective worked on the canvasses. Rose Simpson, an artist, poet and singer from the Santa Clara Pueblo tribe in New Mexico, painted female faces decorated with stylized native motifs. At the other end of the canvasses, Yatika Fields, an artist originally from Oklahoma now living in New York, painted a collage of a cityscape.

The paintings now will be hung in the commons area of Wilcox Hall for others to enjoy.

The installation was part of a weeklong visit by Miles and his colleagues. Other activities were: an exhibition of artwork by Miles, including some skateboard decks; an open lunch with members of the collective; and a showing of the film "Smoke Signals" and a short documentary about Apache Skateboards followed by a discussion with members of the collective.